I could write a whole other post (or five) about how to organize your paper.
But, for this post, you'll see that we divide our paperwork into major categories first,
using hanging files, then subdivide those with manilla folders inside the hanging ones.

Some Major Categories and some subcategories we use:

Photographs

(To Be Scanned, To Be Photoshopped)

Finances

(Estate Planning, Annual Credit Reports, 401K Plan)

Education

(Elementary, Middle School, High School, College Forms and Grades)

Bills

(Natural Gas, Water, Mortgage, Cable, Electricity)

Income Tax

(A file for each of the last 7 years)

Manuals

(Home Appliances, Personal Appliances, Electronics, Furniture)

In the desk area, we keep memorabilia and things that personally inspire us.

On the desk, to the right of the PC, there's this jar.
It's filled with bird feathers. These feathers were collected and saved through the years
by my grandmother, who loved wild birds and had her own parakeets.
This jar reminds me of her. It's no surprise I love birds, too, is it?

On the flower frog, is a picture of my GREAT-grandmother's home in Clinton, Wisconsin,
taken circa 1921. Though I'll never know for sure, I imagine the house is yellow,
and I am reminded that my great grandmother, who took the picture
and had it reproduced postcard-style, had a love for her home, too.

When I first saw it in the Clearance section, it was marked down to $65.00.
I waited a few more weeks.

See what I paid?

I cut a huge piece of cardboard to fit in the frame, and covered it dropcloth fabric.

It displays a pencil sketch of my kitchen by Jeep, our Chinese exchange student.
Jeep also wrote the Chinese idiom that reminded him of me: "Childish one without Limit".
It also holds my hubby's and my first business card, the tag from my childhood cat, Doorbell,
a pencil sketch of jars from Miss Lovely, our South Korean exchange student,
my color wheel and 1/4" scale furniture stencil from my first Interior Design course
years ago, the staging color paint chips for our home,
a drawing of the TARDIS (are any of you Dr. Who fans?) and a watercolor abstract
by our Miss A, and a photograph of Miss A and Miss Lovely.
We also have a Thai exchange student.
(I need to get something on the board from him, too.)

Near the closet is an etagere.

It holds the cubbies that came with the ugly desk that was found on the side of the road.

Also, paper.

Envelopes and cards.

Labels and photo paper.

And Manilla folders.

Thank you, everyone for stopping by today!
I'm honored to have had you visit me!
I hope I have inspired you to make your office a place of calm creativity!

Please rest a moment an peruse the Cottage Living mags
(These were discontinued, but do any of you have any?),
while I get you a cup of tea before you're on your way to Home #6.

Very gorgeous! You my friend, have made me realize, I'm a little lacking in the organization department. You've inspired me to change my ways, and get our important papers filed and labeled. I have them all together, but not very neatly. We don't have a home office, so the space I do have assigned, is going to be redone. Thank ya!

great tour! i love how there is a story behind every piece of furniture (how great you rescued your desk and gave it new life!) and thoughtful planning for all your storage solutions - your gadget cupboard and paper systems are just fabulous!

I've been waiting for this post, Leslie! Your office is so elegant and unoffice looking! You both did a great job. You've got everything so neat and in its place. Love the numbered baskets. I'm going to have to go through this post a few times for some ideas!

Thank you so much for the shout-out about my paper file that inspired you, Leslie!! Very sweet of you. :) Your office and closet are just awesome!! You have used every space of your small room so efficiently, it is just perfect. You've given me tons of ideas. Thanks again! xoxox

Great office space! Amazing how you've made use of the small office. I love the bulletin board, and as a mom with many children who frequently come home with feathers - I'm adopting your jar idea. Thank you!

Boy, do you have function and beauty in one small space. You are fortunate to have a husband who is also a professional organizer. My husband is a professional disorganizer. Never the less, you are inspiring me to do better.

I was delighted to see that you live in Greenville--my daughter is a freshman at BJU! Your blog is such a blessing-I'm so happy to have "met" you! I see we have many, many of the same interests...including our Lord, organizing and the Crisis Pregnancy center (ours is CareNet). I would luv to meet you for a cup of tea somewhere the next time I visit my daughter at school. We live in WA state...so it may be awhile! ;p Come see my blog.... redstarroost@blogspot.com

thanks for the tour ! very inspiring ! I wish I could have the time/money/energy to do the same ! :o))Juste one thing to reassure you about your French : 'one' could also be spelled 'une', when you talk about something 'feminine' (you know, all that boring gender stuff in french ...). So it's not really wrong ! :o)

Very, very nice! I love organized spaces. My office is not much bigger (10x12) and you have given me a new perspective on furniture placement. I also have 2 similar chairs (mine have petite arms on them) that I used to have in the office but moved to the living room but have been thinking about moving them back to my office. I also have a window (actually 2 narrow windows) in the same spot you do and the chairs would look good there. I do not however, have a closet in the room, unfortunately. Just goes to show you can do so much even in a small room with good organization. Nice job!

Great office space! Offices are one of my favorite spaces to gaze at, and yours is nice and roomy with lots of history and character! Love that almost everything in there has a story. First time visitor and new follower! Yay for blogger home tours!

Are you sure that room is only 10 X 10? I'm, first amazed to find someone else has a room as small as my craft room/office, second to see it so organized and spacious looking. Thanks tons for the inspiration. BTW, your exchange student is correct in the UN is A correct spelling for one in French, but UNE is also correct depending on the noun it goes with. As you probably know, in French words are male and female (never understand that concept). You would say UNE fenetre (window) but UN chat (cat). :-)

What a gorgeous work space you have created! Everything in the room serves a purpose and has a place where it belongs. You are the Queen of Organization. Do you make house calls? :) I especially love the jar full of collected bird feathers and the photograph of your Grandmother's home. Happy Spring!

Leslie, it's amazing! I love the way it's so calm and clean and organized. And yes, I recognize that the KEY to that is getting rid of stuff. I know this intellectually. I know it in my head. Now I need to learn it in my body!

Thank you for sharing this beautiful space. And thanks for joining Grace at Home!

Hello, Love the organization and keeping it simple with only the necessary things! I was curious because you mention you do a lot of eBay, Amazon, etc. As far as shipping supplies - do you ever use boxes? I'm having a hard time figuring out how/where to store boxes for shipping. Right now, there is a large "pile" of them in my garage. I've tried putting smaller ones inside bigger ones but then it makes it difficult to find them. Just haven't found something that works. Any suggestions?

Hi! I hope you get this reply :)I use boxes every time. They are at the top left of my closet. I flatten each one and store them in a big Rubbermaid bin.You have to flatten them to store them.Happy selling! I hope that helps!~Leslie

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Leslie, I LoVE your gadget cabinet!! Where oh where did you find it? I'm looking for a similar style for magazines/mail, etc. Medicine cabinets are too narrow and other 2door cabinets I've come across seem to be floor cabinets instead of on the wall. Thanks.